Zero hours contracts rights to be extended to agency workers

New rules around employing agency workers will be included in government plans to crack down on “exploitative” zero-hours contracts, as outlined in the Employment Rights Bill. The changes would see employers being required offer agency staff a permanent contract reflecting the hours they regularly work. It is one of 250 additions to the Employment Rights Bill, as it heads back to the House of Commons for the report stage.

Agency workers on zero-hour contracts will be eligible for compensation if their shifts are cancelled or changed at short notice. There are currently around one million agency staff in the UK, working across areas such as warehouses, in hospitality and within the NHS.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds says the inclusion of agency work in the move to ban zero-hour contracts has been put forward so it does not become a “loophole.” He said:

“The Government believes that every worker should be able to access a contract which reflects the hours they regularly work. We believe this should extend to agency workers, not only to offer them greater certainty of hours and security of income, but to also ensure that agency work does not become a loophole in the plans to end exploitative zero-hours contracts.”

Trade unions have been campaigning for agency workers to be included in the legislative changes to prevent employers getting round the proposed zero hours rules by hiring agency staff. Paul Novak, general secretary of the TUC, said the government was right to close this “loophole”. He said agency workers “make up a significant proportion of the zero-hours workforce and need protections from bad working practices too”.

According to the BBC, the government still has to decide whether the minimum hours offered in a contract to agency workers will be based on a 12-week reference period or longer.

A government announcement said the plans would “offer increased security for working people to receive reasonable notice of shifts and proportionate pay when shifts are cancelled, curtailed or moved at short notice – whilst retaining the necessary flexibility for employers in how they manage their workforces”.

Other amendments being tabled include an extension of sick pay to workers earning under £123 a week from the first day of their illness.

Unite, whose leadership has been critical of Keir Starmer and had previously accused the government of watering down the bill, said the government had “listened and acted”. Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said:

“For decades, workers’ rights have been pushed down the agenda. This is the first time in a generation that workers’ rights have been taken seriously.”

Unison general secretary, Christina McAnea, said huge improvements had been made to the bill and it was “what working people and decent employers have been waiting for”.